Eavesdropping
by Caliente23
Summary: Ginny finds out something interesting about Harry.
1. Chapter 1

Ginny walked back out of her room after tossing her book onto her bed and headed towards the bathroom. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized the door was already shut. _Aw, man! Really?_ Stepping closer, she leaned her ear towards the door to try and hear who was in there. She could hear a low, half-mumbled song (if you could call it that) coming from inside with a background track of running water. _You've got to be kidding me! Finally make it through 4 hours of Celestina Warbeck and now I can't even get ready for bed because Ron's decided to take a __**shower**__? He'll be in there for the next hour, at least!_ Ginny grumbled to herself (something about a stinky creature finding its way into Ron's bed) and turned to go back downstairs. She might as well have a cup of hot chocolate while she waits on Ron…again. He's worse than a girl when it comes to time in the loo.

Ginny was almost to the ground floor when she froze at hearing her name being spoken from the kitchen.

"Harry, why don't you just talk to her?"

"You know why, Hermione."

Harry and Hermione were sitting in the kitchen talking (no doubt waiting for Ron as well) and were unaware of the added ears to their conversation. Thanking Merlin's saggiest Y-fronts that she had long ago trained herself to avoid all the squeaky stairs, Ginny sunk down to listen.

Hermione continued, "I'm not so sure that he would mind, Harry. I rather think that he would be more accepting of _you_ dating Ginny than anyone else."

"What if he's not though, Hermione? What if he's not and I mess our friendship up for something that I don't even know will work out? I mean, I like Ginny…a lot, but I don't even know if she likes _me_ that way or that we'll work out even _if_ we ever get together." Harry sighed in frustration.

In the stairwell, Ginny quietly gasped. _What? Harry likes me? But…I…he…__**what?**_

__Hermione gave Harry a stern look. "Harry." When he looked at her, she raised an eyebrow at him.

"What, Hermione? I don't. I have no first-hand experience that tells me that she's into me. I only have what other people have told me. I can't embark on what could be a suicide mission if I'm not sure that she won't just laugh in my face." Harry lowered his face into his hands while resting his elbows on the table to either side of his mug. Hermione just watched and waited as he thought this out.

Meanwhile, back on the stairs, Ginny waited with bated breath for them to continue talking. She almost screamed and fell down the stairs when someone suddenly whispered, "_Hey!" _directly into her ear. Spinning around to see who was trying to give her heart failure, Ginny found Fred grinning at her like the Cheshire Cat.

"What are you doing?" She mouthed at him.

"Listening. Same as you." He mouthed back. "Why aren't you down there telling him how you feel?"

Ginny balked. "Are you kidding me? I would have to admit to eavesdropping on them this whole time! I'm _not_ going to do that!"

A wickedly mischievous grin crossed Fred's face. "Are you sure about that?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at her brother, suspicious of his meaning. Abruptly, she felt a strong push on her lower back and she was sliding down the last 8 steps of the staircase like they were a playground slide. _Curse these fuzzy socks for being so slippery!_

When Ginny finally sat up from lying flat on the floor at the bottom of the staircase, Harry and Hermione were just staring at her with wide-eyed looks of shock. Ginny immediately blushed crimson and began to stand up. Without warning, Harry was there helping her up. The two stood there staring at each other, green versus brown; both were still too shocked to say anything. Hermione, sensing that now was the time to disappear, mumbled something about checking on Ron and began to rush up the stairs, shooing Fred when she found him squatting.

After they had climbed to Fred's bedroom landing, Hermione turned to him and demanded, "What happened?"

"Ron was still in the shower, so I went downstairs to get something to eat and found Ginny sitting there listening to you and Harry talk about her. She wasn't going to do anything about it—even though she's been in love with him since the train station your first year—so I…_assisted_ them both by pushing _her_ down the stairs and the big, fat, pink elephant _out_ the door."

Hermione just stared at Fred for a few, long seconds, and then grinned like she had just been handed a first edition copy of _Hogwarts, A History_. "You are an absolute _genius_, Fred Weasley!"

Fred smiled in return. "Yeah, I know that."

Harry finally broke the silence that pervaded the room after Hermione (and Fred) left.

"Are you okay?" He asked, softly.

Not trusting herself to speak, Ginny just nodded. Though her mouth was silent, her mind was not. _He's still holding my hand! He's still holding my HAND! What, what do I do? I need to say something. Yeah! I need to say something, anything!_

"You're still holding my hand."

_Really? REALLY? That's the BEST that you could come up with, Ginny? Bloody hell, he's going to think you don't like him!_

Harry looked down at their hands and blushed. "Oh…sorry." He mumbled, and started to pull away.

Ginny tightened her hold in his hand. "I didn't say I didn't like it." She reproved him softly. She took hold of his other hand to comfort him, moving slowly so she didn't spook him. He really did look like he could bolt for the door at any second. After she took his hand, Harry seemed to visibly relax. _ There you go, Ginny. Much better. Now you just need to TELL HIM!_

"How much did you hear?" Harry beat her to the punch line.

Slightly startled to be jumping right in, it took her a second to form words, "Er…most of it?"

"Most of it?" He repeated. Harry's voice was quiet, without much inflection, and he was still staring at her.

A little scared, Ginny, again, just nodded.

"And do you have anything to say in response?" He was so quiet that Ginny almost didn't hear him over the thumping of her racing heart.

For the third time, Ginny just nodded.

Harry stood like a statue, waiting for her to say something.

_Speak! Ginny, freaking say SOMETHING! No, don't say anything, DO something!_

Watching her, Harry saw her blink and her eyebrows lower in resolve. Slowly, Ginny moved her right hand from Harry's to his face. Harry blinked and his eyebrows rose in surprise, but still he did not move. Ginny began to raise herself up on to her toes to bring herself closer to Harry. After what felt like an eternity, she brushed her lips against Harry's in a soft, caring and delicate kiss.

Pulling away enough to make eye contact with him, she smirked, "How's this for first-hand experience?"

Finally, Harry chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Pretty nice." He said, before taking her lips in a firm, but loving kiss that portrayed the extent of Harry's feelings for her.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So it was requested...adamantly ; )... that I continue with this. So I did. I'm not sure how much further I want to develop this, if at all, but here's another. I hope you like it. If it doesn't live up to your expectations, TELL ME! I'd love some feedback. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Harry didn't know how long they had been standing there…communicating…but he finally pulled back and rested his forehead against Ginny's. His arms were still wrapped around her waist, keeping her pulled close. They were both breathing hard and grinning like idiots. Ginny chuckled. "So…what do we do now?"

Harry smirked, "Well, I for one, would be totally up for moving this to the couch."

Ginny playfully slapped him on the shoulder. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

Chuckling, Harry nodded. Taking a deep breath, he grew serious and took a second to think about what he wanted to happen. Looking into her eyes, he softly spoke. "I don't want to go back to hiding my feelings for you."

Meeting his intense gaze with her own, Ginny whispered, "Neither do I. …does that mean that we're going to tell Ron?"

* * *

Unbeknownst to the couple standing in the middle of their own little world (a.k.a. the kitchen), Ron descended the last step into the room.

"Tell me what?"

Harry and Ginny both jumped about three feet in the air feeling as though they had just been struck by lightning.

Now standing next to Ginny, Harry missed the calming effect being in her embrace gave him. His heart was racing and he was on the verge of freaking out!

"T-tell you…tell you…" Harry's eyes were wide and he was having an internal jousting match in his head, trying to decide to take the plunge—leap of faith, if you will—and tell Ron the truth or run away screaming like a little girl…figuratively, of course.

Ginny, standing next to him, could practically see the battle going on inside Harry's head. Knowing he was trying to remain calm...ish, Ginny slowly stepped closer, took his hand and gave a light squeeze to show her support of whatever he chose. Turning to look at her, Harry saw her feelings for him pass through her eyes like he was watching a movie. Instantly, he was resolved in telling Ron the truth. Squeezing her hand in return, Harry took a deep, calming breath and turned to Ron, who was rummaging around in the cupboards looking for food.

"Ron, I don't want this to come between us, but Ginny and I fancy each other and I hope that she will agree to be my girlfriend."

Ginny's smile in response to Harry's words quite possibly could have powered the whole village of Ottery St. Catchpole for a week without struggling.

Ron was still rummaging around looking for food. "Ok."

Harry just stared at him with a look of incredulity on his face. "….ok?" he squeaked out. _That's _it?_ Ok? I've been struggling over this for months and he says _"OK"? _What the bloody hell?_

Finally, Ron turned and looked at them, shrugging. "Yeah, ok. Honestly, I've been waiting for you to finally grow a pair and say something, mate. Fred, George and I had a bet going on how long it would take you. I really thought you wouldn't have made it this long. I was starting to lose hope. Who would be better to take care of my little sister, than my best friend?" Ron chuckled at the looks his admission caused on the faces of said best friend and little sister.

After a long moment of silent, Harry thought he heard giggling coming from beside him. Turning to look at Ginny, he saw that she was struggling to contain her laughter. Finally, she lost the battle and started to whole-heartedly laugh. Harry's lips started twitching until finally he too started laughing. Ron just stood there watching them with a grin on his face.

When she could finally control herself, Ginny looked at Harry and said, "You should _really_ listen to Hermione more often."

"I agree." Hermione, Fred and George had just emerged from the stairs.

"So he finally did it?" George asked.

"Yup." Ron answered, chuckling. "Took him long enough, didn't it?"

"Yeah, mate. You cost me 2 Galleons. Couldn't you have waited…" Fred looked at his watch. "…10 more minutes?"

"_What?_" Harry asked. He was looking at Fred with a confused look on his face.

"Ron had the time slot of 2 months from the beginning of our bet; George had months 3 and four; I had months 5 and 6. The beginning of month 5 was tomorrow" he looked at his watch again, "or today, I guess it'd be now."

"5 months?" Ginny exclaimed. "Geez, Harry. If I'd known it was _that_ long, I would have done something to encourage you." She teased him, smirking at the look he gave in return.

Harry just grumbled and ran his hand through his hair, while smiling shyly at her.

"Anyways, who wants hot chocolate?" Hermione, taking pity on Harry, decided to distract the others.

The three red-headed guys immediately raised their hands up into the air. "Me!"


End file.
